The purpose of this assignment is to familiarize students with health reform strategies adopted by states. Students will select a state health policy reform innovation and describe the rationale, how it was adopted (e.g., federal waivers, passage by state legislature), the funding structure, and (to the extent statistical data are available) its impact.

Students should summarize their findings in a 1-2 page, single-spaced memo Due Nov 2nd. Examples of state innovations include Maryland's hospital rate setting, Vermont's single payer system, Massachusetts' health reforms, Florida's Medicaid program, and Kentucky's Medicaid healthcare program.

Healthcare Reform Act

Rationale

Massachusetts State is among the states that have made a number of attempts aimed at reforming the state's healthcare system to make access to quality healthcare available for its residents. Recently in 2006, Massachusetts passed the Healthcare Reform Act, which was later, signed into law by former Governor Mitt Romney (Van der Wees et al., 2013). The rationale for this healthcare reform was to provide near-universal health insurance coverage for Massachusetts' residents.

Adoption of the Reform
The Massachusetts Healthcare Reform Act was passed by the State legislators after years of negotiation between Mitt Romney and the legislators with a compromise reached in 2006 resulting in the enactment of the reform that was effectively signed into law by Romney on 12 April 206. The reform has made several changes to its healthcare system in a move aimed at achieving a near-universal healthcare coverage for the residents of the state. The first change was made to the state's Medicaid program that was broadened by providing a MassHealth waiver, extending health insurance coverage to children in low-income families with up to 300% of the federal poverty level (FPL) (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2012). Massachusetts created what is called Commonwealth Care, which provides the residents of the state with access to subsidized health insurance for eligible individuals with earnings below 300% of FPL. Under this new healthcare reform, individuals with income below 150% of FPL also have the option of selecting a plan without a monthly premium and low-cost sharing. However, eligible individuals with earnings falling between 150-300% PL are subsidized by the state using a sliding scale.

The Massachusetts Healthcare Reform Act also saw the state expand its Insurance Partnership Program by providing incentives and subsidies to the employers to give and workers to enroll in the state's employer-sponsored insurance. In this respect, Massachusetts State subsidized insurance costs for the workers in the state who would otherwise be eligible for programs subsidized by the government. However, small businesses are only eligible for up to $1,000 in support per qualified worker who falls below the 300% FPL (Van der Wees et al., 2013). Under the program, the state government pays the portion of qualified workers' premiums that is equal to what the employees would be expected to pay if employees were on a subsidized plan. Additionally, under this new healthcare reform, any employer in the state who fails to provide health insurance to its workers is expected to pay what is called a 'fair share' assessment to the government of up to $295 per worker every year (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2012).